Delhi HC converts bail plea of Naresh Balyan into appeal in view of MCOCA provision

New Delhi [India], December 4 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday converted the bail plea of former AAP MLA Naresh Balyan into an appeal in view of the provision under MCOCA. The high court decided the issue after hearing the submissions of the Delhi police.
Naresh Balyan has been arrested in an MCOCA case linked with an organised crime syndicate allegedly run by absconded gangster Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu.
His previous bail plea was rejected on May 27 by the Rouse Avenue court. Thereafter, he filed a bail plea before the Delhi High Court.
Justice Ravinder Dudeja converted the plea seeking bail in view of the provision of MCOCA. The matter was listed on December 17.
Advocate Amit Prasad, Special counsel, alongwith Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Akhand Pratap Singh, appeared for Delhi police and submitted that after Dismissal of the bail by a trial court, only an appeal lies under section 12 of MCOCA.
Advocate M S Khan, alongwith advocate Rohit Dalal, Prashant Kishore, Qausar Khan and Rahul Sahani appeared for Naresh Balyan.
On August 7, the Senior advocate for Balyan argued that there is no continuing criminal activity to invoke MCOCA against petitioner Naresh Balyan.
It was submitted that there isn't sufficient material to invoke MCOCA against Naresh Balyan. MCOCA has been invoked on the basis of 15 FIRs against Kapil Sangwan and his gang.
It was also argued that the petitioner is not connected with Kapil Sangwan and his gang. Rather, he was threatened, and he filed a complaint against Kapil Sangwan.
It was further submitted that there has been no continuing criminal activity in the 10 years preceding the registration of the FIR under MCOCA. There is no chargesheet against the petitioner, of which cognisance was taken by the court.
Delhi police have filed one charge sheet and three supplementary chargesheet. The prosecution has cited 128 witnesses, and the investigation is still ongoing. Petitioner has been in judicial custody for a long period since December 4, 2024, the senior advocate submitted.
Balyan and other persons are charge sheeted in a case linked with an organised crime syndicate allegedly run by absconding gangster Kapil Sangwan alias Nandu.
Delhi police have filed a supplementary charge sheet under sections 3 and 4 of MCOCA against Balyan.
In this case, Delhi police have chargesheeted the accused, namely Ritik alias Peter, Rohit alias Anna, Sachin Chikara, Naresh Balyan, Sahil alias Police, Vijay alias Kalu, Vikas Gehlot, Veenita, Jyoti Prakash alias Baba and others. Baba is Kapil Sangwan's real brother.